When Tovah
Klein emigrated from Israel to the United States, she met and fell in love
with Midwesterner Travis Cloud. The smitten lesbians subsequently settled in
a trendy section of Brooklyn together where they would raise their three
adopted children as Jews, sending them to Hebrew school.

What might
strike some as strange about this arrangement is that none of the kids had a
Jewish background. Rafi, of mixed-ethnicity, was born drug-addicted and with
an STD, while his slightly younger sister Avery's parents were
African-Americans from Texas, and little Zay-Zay was a cuddly, Korean
orphan.

As
visually-diverse as the models in a United Colors of Benetton ad, this
blended family is the subject of Off and Running, a daring documentary
marking the directorial debut of Nicole Opper. It doesn't take long for the
viewer to get past their striking superficial differences and to appreciate
the fact that the Klein-Clouds are nonetheless a very close, considerate and
loving clan.

Then, just
when you're starting to think of the household as being as
picture-perfect as Leave It to Beaver, the camera starts to reveal some
rather emotionally gut-wrenching goings-on. For although Avery is a high
school track star with a promising future, she has trouble keeping her nose
to the proverbial grindstone, between being boy crazy and curious about the
possibility of meeting her birth mother.

After all,
she's begun to struggle with her identity, since most people see her as
black, not white and Jewish, even though she's never been exposed to
African-American culture. The dilemma leads to an existential crisis, which
puts a severe strain on the whole family.

Rafi, by
contrast, seems to have made peace with his lot in life, and is focused more
on his future than in piecing together any mysteries about his past. The 6
foot tall, green-eyed senior is applying to college and hopes to study
molecular biology and play guitar at Princeton. Zay-Zay is spared much in
the way of microscopic emotional inspection, serving more as a frustrated
observer of his big sister's self-destructive antics.

Ultimately
uplifting, this endearing bio-pic offers a wonderful warts-and-all look from
the inside out at both the blessings and challenges of trans-cultural
adoption. _______________________________
Watch a Trailer for Off and Running